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December 20, 2002

Robert J. Trammell Jr. of Oro Valley, Ariz., has given $100,000 to the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation to set up an endowment for educational initiatives including the foundation’s Teacher Institute and Electronic Field Trips. The endowment, the Louise Johnson Trammell Endowment Fund in honor of the late Mrs. Trammell, will be used to fund scholarships for schools selected by Colonial Williamsburg. Colonel Trammell has been a donor since 1999 and is a member of the Colonial Williamsburg Burgesses, one of the foundation’s special donor societies.

“Col. Trammel’s wonderful gift will help young people understand our nation’s heritage and prepare them to participate in the democratic process,” said Colonial Williamsburg Vice President of Advancement Christine R. Hoek. “We are deeply grateful for his interest in Colonial Williamsburg.”

Louise Johnson met Robert Trammell when both were college students in Gulfport, Miss., she at Gulf Park College, he at the Gulf Coast Military Academy. Mrs. Trammell later went on to attend the Parsons School of Design in New York. Following active military service, Col. Trammell joined the family business in Tennessee as a cotton broker and, later, retired as an Army Reserve colonel. The Trammells have two sons and one daughter.

“My late wife, Louise Johnson Trammell, was always frugal but she also was enthusiastically loyal and supportive of her family and to those ideals that contributed to the creation and prosperity of her country,” said Col. Trammell. “She was quite proud of her family--her grandmother who came across the mountains from North Carolina to west Tennessee by covered wagon in 1837; her father, James Johnson, who was a successful farm operator and wholesale grocer; and her maternal grandfather, who was a Methodist clergyman. I have made my gift to Colonial Williamsburg to help perpetuate my late wife’s ideals as well as her heritage.”